Microemulsion co-polymerization of methyl methacrylate with acrylonitrile

Microemulsion (M.E.) and conventional emulsion (C.E.) co-polymerizations of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with acrylonitrile (AN) have been carried out at 70 degrees C by employing n-pentanol (PA) as co-surfactant along with sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) as surfactant in the reaction medium and potassium persulphate (KPS) as initiator. The co-polymers are characterized by FT-IR, NMR, TG/DTA and GPC. The reactivity ratios are evaluated by employing the graphical procedures of Fineman-Ross, Kellen-Tudos and Mayo-Lewis. The reactivity ratios, r(MMA) and r(AN), for the M.E. co-polymerization of MMA with AN as calculated using the Kellen-Tudos method are 1.83 +/- 0.02 and 0.20 +/- 0.02, and 2.20 +/- 0.02 and 0.18 +/- 0.02 for the C.E. co-polymerization of MMA with AN, respectively.